Bill, I think Mark wants to keep the original patina. Putting a new panel is more work than necessary especially if he wants to keep that old Model T look. This is before I cleaned it up and made it pretty.

Ha ... hey Bill, I knew if I wiggled that spiders web you would come out. Sure I would love solid sheet metal there. Some interesting subtle curves ... wouldn't be so easy. I imagine it might be beyond my means ... but will give you a call and we can talk about it. My budget goes to engine work first this winter ... then that sheet metal problem.

There is a right way and a whole lot of WRONG ways to do anything. Bondo and fiberglass are all just lazy, sloppy ways of putting off doing it the right way. Sounds like you have one offer already to make a panel.

Model T guys have a tradition of being cheapskates. There IS a difference between doing something inexpensively and being a cheapskate.

Mark, I thoroughly looked this car over in October 2015, and the Coupe behind it. Which I found someone in our area to buy the Coupe. The Roadster is very straight and likely a low mileage car. It had an interesting story behind it. The damage that you are talking about was a result of a huge mouse nest. The metal in that area is very thin. Before you make a determination on how to fix it, I would very gently bead blast the whole area, just dusting it as you are doing it, until the rust is gone and see what you have left. I posted these pictures before

Considering you want to keep the patina, and it's easy to see why, perhaps in this instance the por 15 or even J B Weld and fiberglass might be the way to go (after neutralizing the rust. If you go the blast way, I would put gaffer's tape on the outside first to give the metal some backing. Yes, you take the tape off afterwards!

Cut out the rusted out piece, braze in a new piece or use a wire feeder if you have one. Clean up the affected area as good as possible then use bondo to do any leveling up as necessary.

Yes its OK to use a little bondo here and there. I cant understand what the big deal is about using it for some folks. The issue with bondo may be that its not mixed or applied properly. That's a problem with the user and not the product.

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